Cuts and Bruises
by Trn736
Summary: After Tweek gets hurt during a supposedly non-contact game of football, his friends take care of him and make sure he is alright.
1. Chapter 1

"Alright, Tweek," Clyde spoke in his team's huddle, "When Craig hikes the ball I want you to break left and I'll pass it to you."

"Gah! Why me?!" The boy fidgeted nervously.

"Because, you're the fastest person on our team…," Craig replied.

"You're even faster than me!" Token agreed, "It must be all that coffee."

Everyone laughed except Tweek.

"Alright…," he replied reluctantly.

His team and the rival team of Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman took their positions.

"Why can't we play on the field again?" Kyle asked while kicking around some of the rocks and dirt on the ground.

"The younger kids have soccer practice there right after school, remember?" Stan offered.

"Oh, yeah… I still don't think playing on this gravel is safe, though… Someone could really get hurt."

"That's why we're just playing touch," Cylde reminded, "You guys ready?"

"Yeah!" The group responded.

"Okay," Clyde took his position, "Ready… Set… Hike!"

Tweek took off as soon as the ball was in play, quickly weaving past Kenny and opening himself up on the left side of their makeshift playing field.

Clyde threw the ball in his direction.

Tweek focused on the ball sailing through the air.

_Oh Jesus! What if I don't catch it?! I don't want everyone to hate me!_ He thought before reaching up in an attempt to grab football, "Gah!"

"I caught it!" He announced, triumphantly holding the ball.

"Run!" Craig called from downfield.

The boy tucked the ball under his arm and started running toward their goal as fast as he could.

He did not make it very far before he was suddenly blindsided.

The impact was violent.

He let go of the ball as he outstretched his arms and hands trying to break the fall.

He hit the ground hard, kicking up a cloud of dust from beneath some of the jagged rocks.

"Fumble!" Cartman laughed as he scooped up the ball and headed in the opposite direction.

"Ouch…," Tweek whimpered as he tried to sit up, disoriented from the impact and the wind being knocked out of him.

"Jesus, Tweek!" He could see boys from both teams jogging over to him, "Are you okay?!"

After focusing on his friends for a moment, Tweek became aware of a wet feeling on his throbbing right hand.

He held it to his chest in pain for a moment before looking down to inspect the wound.

The area of his shirt where he had held his hand to was stained red, a large gash on the palm of his right hand gushed a steady flow of blood.

Tweek suddenly felt very lightheaded.

Everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

"What the hell, Cartman?!" Kyle yelled at the boy jogging in the opposite direction as everyone else ran up to Tweek.

Cartman stopped, laughing as he turned around to walk toward the injured boy as well, "I got the ball, didn't I? You should thank me, Jew!"

Kyle angrily whirled around to face Cartman, "I don't care that you got the ball! We were playing touch, not tackle and you know that!"

"Touch…?" Cartman played it off, "I didn't hear that…," he smirked.

"Well then maybe you should get some of the lard out of your ears, fat boy!" Kyle snapped.

"Hey!" Cartman was interrupted before he could sufficiently rebuttal.

"Or how about this: maybe use whatever pea-sized object is currently occupying the space in your thick skull where your brain should be and realize that we're playing on rocks and dirt where someone could seriously get hurt if you shove them to the ground!"

Cartman was taken back for a moment.

"Tweek?!" Craig spoke with concern as he and Stan kneeled beside the motionless boy, the others gathered around him.

"Oh man…," Stan voiced his worry eyeing the boy's bloody, badly cut hand.

"Tweek?" Craig gently shook him.

No response.

"Can you hear us, Tweek?" Kyle kneeled beside the other boys.

No response.

"He must have passed out when he saw that cut…," Kyle looked at the nasty gash.

"What do we do?!" Clyde asked, almost in a panic.

"He should come around in a minute or two…," Kyle's words trailed off as his eyes focused on the bleeding cut, "This cut is pretty bad though, we need to find something to use as a bandage…"

"I have an idea!" Token ran off to the side of the lot and grabbed his backpack before returning to the group.

He pulled out a white t-shirt, "My mom told me to take this clean shirt to gym class this morning, I forgot to get it out of my locker. We can rip it up into strips and use them as bandages to stop the bleeding," he handed the shirt to Stan.

"Are you sure your mom won't be mad or anything…?" Kenny asked as he watched Stan tear strands of cloth away from the shirt.

"What? No… I have like 20 white t-shirts… Plus, this is kinda an emergency."

"Oh…"

Token put his backpack under Tweek's head as Stan used the makeshift bandages to bind the wound.

"Does anyone have any water?" Kyle asked, "I bet we could wake him up if we splashed some on his face…"

"He's fakin'!" Cartman chortled at Kyle's request.

"What?" Craig looked up at the fat boy.

Cartman continued, "I mean, let's face it guys, Tweek is a pretty big pussy… It's not _that_ bad…"

"Unbelieveable…," Kyle whispered.

"This is your fault you son of a bitch!" Craig yelled crossly as he stood up to face Cartman.

"He's just doin' this 'cause he wants attention," Cartman spoke in a very matter-of-fact tone.

Without warning, Craig unleashed a lightening fast punch that connected with Cartman's face.

The force of impact sent the fat boy to the ground.

He rocked back and forth whining in a high pitched voice as he held his face, nose gushing blood.

"What the hell, Craig?!"

"_It's not that bad_, Cartman," he mocked, "It's just a broken nose…"

Cartman scrambled to his feet, tears streaming down his face, "I hate you guys!"

He turned and started walking in the direction of his house, "I'm telling my mom!"

"Who's the pussy now you fat bastard?!" Craig called behind him.

The group looked shocked from the whole ordeal.

* * *

Sunlight flooded Tweek's field of vision as he slowly opened his eyes, the blurry images before him quickly sharpened into his friends.

"Guys…?" He spoke weakly, somewhat confused.

"Tweek!" Everyone greeted, relieved.

"Wh-What happened…?"

"We think you passed out when you realized you cut your hand after Cartman threw you down," Kyle answered, "Unless, did you hurt your head?"

Tweek's face turned pink with embarrassment, "N-No, my head feels fine."

"Just take it easy for a few minutes," Kenny suggested.

"Uh, guys…," Stan solicited the groups' attention, "I don't think this bandage is working… He's still bleeding pretty bad."

Tweek looked down at his hand, seeing the blood-soaked scraps of shirt covering his hand instantly shocked his system with pain and adrenaline.

"Gah!" The boy shook nervously, "I don't want to bleed to death!"

"Tweek! Calm down!" Craig soothed, "You're not going to bleed to death…"

"Ah! It hurts! It hurts really bad…," tears welled in his eyes.

"I think he might need stitches… We need to take him to the hospital," Kyle stood up.

"Oh, God! The hospital?!" Tweek was completely frenzied at this point.

"It's only a few blocks away," Kyle stated, "Stan and Craig and I can get him to the emergency room quickly," he spoke to Token, "You, Clyde, and Kenny head to Tweek's house and tell his parents what's happening."

"Alright!" The three boys spoke in unison before they hurried off in the direction of Tweek's house.

"Come on, Tweek," Craig and the other two boys help the shaking, whimpering boy to his feet and set off toward the hospital.


	3. Chapter 3

"Oh man…," Tweek whined, "I feel dizzy…"

"Hang on, dude," Stan spoke, "We're only like a block from the hospital."

The group quickly approached the big sliding doors underneath the red 'Emergency' sign.

After herding into the building, Stan and Kyle helped the injured boy into a chair as Craig approached the nurse at the desk.

She did not seem too concerned.

"Hello?!" Craig spoke in an urgent manner, contrary to his usual calm self to get her attention.

She lazily looked over the counter at the worried boy and spoke in a painfully unenthusiastic tone, "How can I help you…?"

"My friend cut his hand bad…," he pointed at the blonde boy sitting across the way cradling his blood-covered makeshift-bandaged hand to his chest, "He needs to see a doctor!"

She nodded before handing a clipboard over the desk, "Fill this out and we'll get him in as soon as we can."

"His mom will be here soon, I'm sure she can -," He was cut off.

"Look, kid, it's protocol… I'm just doing my job…"

Craig angrily took the clipboard from the desk and walked back over to the other guys.

"Unbelievable…," he whispered to himself.

"What happened?" Kyle asked as Craig approached.

"I gotta fill this stupid thing out before they'll see him…," Craig sat down beside the other boys.

"Gah!" Tweek twitched, clearly in pain.

"His mom will be here soon?" Stan inquired, confused.

"_It's protocol_," Craig mocked.

"What the hell?" Kyle was clearly irritated.

"I know…"

Craig began filling out the paper.

The first few lines were easy: first name, middle name, last name, date of birth.

The rest of the form, however, not so much.

"Do you know what your social security number is…?"

"Wh – What?"

This was about as complete as Craig was getting the form.

He took the clipboard back up to the front of the room and dropped it on the desk.

"I filled out as much as I could, his mom will fill out the rest.

"Alright," she did not sound happy, "Have a seat and we'll call him in a few minutes."

"He's already been waiting long enough… This happened like a half hour ago!"

"The doctor is busy. We'll call you when we're ready," she reiterated.

Craig looked around the empty room, "Busy with what? We're the only ones here!" Craig was extremely frustrated, "He's bleeding all –".

"Take a seat!" She said firmly.

"What a bitch…," he whispered to himself as he walked back over to the other boys.

Not long after sitting down a panicked mother ran through the emergency room door.

"Tweek!?" She rushed over to her son and the other boys, "What happened?!"

The group quickly explained what happened.

"We've been sitting here forever…," Craig said, "I told that lady behind the desk that he was bleeding and she didn't seem to care too much… Just told me to sit down."

Mrs. Tweak did not look happy at all.

She moved from comforting her son to standing him up and walking him to the desk.

After a brief exchange all three of them disappeared around a corner down the hall.

The group waited patiently for about a half hour.

Kyle pulled out his phone to look at the time.

"Five already?! I've got to get home!" Kyle quickly stood up, promptly followed by Stan.

"Oh, crap! It's five already?!" Stan asked.

"Yeah."

"I need to go too!" Stan agreed.

Craig remained seated.

"You should probably get home too, Craig. All of our parents told us to be home by five. I'm sure Tweek will be fine… We can talk to him at school tomorrow," Kyle suggested.

"You guys go on ahead… I want to stay and make sure he's okay," Craig tried not to sound too sentimental.

"Alright, dude… Tell him we hope he feels better, okay?"

"'Kay."

With that the two other boys hurried out the door.

Craig waited about another 30 minutes before Tweek and his mother emerged from a small room down the hall.

Craig could see Tweek's hand was covered in a thick layer of white bandages from about his fingertips to his wrist, his mother holding the other hand.

Craig stood up to greet them.

"Tweek! Hey, dude! You okay…?"

Tweek sniffled, it looked like he had been crying.

"He's alright," Mrs. Tweak answered, "They just cleaned the cut out to make sure it didn't get infected and gave him stitches to close to it up."

Before Craig could say anything, she spoke again, "It's getting late, Craig. You should've gone home by now, your mother is probably worried sick."

Craig looked at the ground, "I – uh – just wanted to make sure he was alright is all…"

Tweek still did not say anything.

"I'll leave now…"

He was about to turn to start walking before Mrs. Tweak stopped him, "There's no sense in you walking, just come with us. I'll call your parents at our house and tell them what happened and where you were. They can pick you up there."

"Alright, thanks."

Craig followed the two out to their car.

Mrs. Tweak helped Tweek into the back seat and buckled him up.

Craig got into the back beside him.

Craig watched Tweek during the car ride home, he had still not said anything.

He looked oddly calm, way to mellow for his usual hyperactive self.

This worried Craig.

"Are you sure you're okay, Tweek? You don't seem like your normal self…"

"He'll snap out of it soon…," Mrs. Tweak began, "He really didn't want to have stitches… Or the tetanus shot they wanted to give with them… They gave him some medicine to calm him down in addition to a pain killer."

It all made sense now. Tweek was probably so high on tranquilizers and pain meds he had no idea where he was or who Craig even is.

They arrived at the house a short time later.

Mrs. Tweak ushered the two boys in and sat them on the living room couch before she walked into the kitchen to call Craig's parents.

The two sat in silence until Mrs. Tweak came back in.

"I just got off the phone with your mother, Craig. She said that your dad had to work late tonight and that he'll swing by to pick you up on his way home in about an hour."

"Okay," Craig acknowledged, "Thanks."

The two sat in silence for a few more minutes after she had left the room before Craig could not take it anymore.

"Do you want to maybe watch some TV, dude…? This is getting kinda weird…"

Tweek looked around him.

"The remote is right on that table beside you," Craig pointed out.

Tweek picked up the remote and pressed the volume up key, the channel down key, and the menu key before finally hitting the power button.

The TV flicked on to the nightly news.

Tweek sat the remote down on the couch between him and Craig.

Craig blankly stared at his friend.

"Man, what the hell did they give you?" Craig reached over and took the remote, turning the channel to cartoons.

"I – I'm not sure…," Tweek spoke in a confused tone.

"I'm sure you're not," Craig chuckled.

Only a few minutes later Craig felt something hit his shoulder: Tweek's head.

He was fast asleep.

Craig let out a sigh and rolled his eyes.

At least he was okay.


End file.
